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Persephone
= Personality = Persephone can seem like, to those unfamiliar with her, a detached but polite individual. Not exactly warm but not biting anyone's head off at a moment's notice either. She usually remains civil in most conversations, though it's certainly not out of the question for her to respond to rudeness with a sharp tongue. While she does firmly believe in certain objectives and principles of the Technocratic Union, her experiences with the darker side of it has left her bitter toward much of the organization and definitely had a hand in her somewhat distant nature. Many of her deeds still haunt her and undeserving mistreatment of others is often enough to severely agitate her. = Paradigm = There is a door to every possibility, a solution that is always feasible to the enlightened mind. One cannot step through the door if all they choose to see is a wall. Reaching enlightenment allows one to overcome the concept of restriction and realize that the label itself only exists to the mundane mind. Information and scientific methods have the power to destroy the concepts of restrictions. Information is a powerful catalyst, by itself it can cause countless events to occur all at once. Information is key to discovering the knowledge necessary to go beyond mundane boundaries. = Sheet = Attributes : Physical: Strength 2, Dexterity 3, Stamina 3 : Social: Charisma 2, Manipulation 3, Appearance 3 : Mental: Perception 3, Intelligence 4, Wits 3 Abilities : Talents: Brawl 2, Dodge 2, Athletics 2, Insight 2, Integrity 2, Resistance 2, Sensitivity 1, Vigilance 2, Subterfuge 1 : Skills: Technology 3, Research 2, Stealth 1, Drive 2, Marksmanship 4, Melee 3 : Knowledges: Computer 4, Lore 2, Cosmology 2, Investigation 1 Expertise and Specialties ;Expertise - :Marksmanship: Pistols, Energy Weapons, Artillery :Melee: Short Swords :Technology: Computer Hardware :Lore: Mages, Technocracy :Drive: Cars, Personal Aircraft ;Specialties - :Intelligence: Creative :Computer: Hacking :Marksmanship: Sharp Shooting Advantages and Backgrounds : Spheres: Time 3, Correspondence 2, Dimensional Science (Spirit) 1 : Willpower: 6 : Enlightenment (Arete): 3 : Paradox: 0 : Backgrounds: Genius 2, Cloaking 1, Resources 2, Wonder 4 Primary Apparatus' ; Time : Continuum Dial: This device, disguised as a normal wristwatch, gives Persephone precise manipulation over time relative to herself, whether it be compressing it or expanding it. It can be connected to her HUDGS. ; Correspondence : Heads-Up Display Grid Scanner: A pair of seemingly ordinary mirror-shade glasses make use of advanced detection technology used to greatly enhance the sensory perceptions. ; Dimensional Science (Spirit) : Umbral Detection Sensor: This hand-held device can detect any present entities of the Horizon Realms and conditions of the Gauntlet in the area. Merits and Flaws Merits * Computer Aptitude 1 :Persephone has always had a natural talent for understanding how computers tick. * Supernatural Kinfolk 4 :Persephone is currently unaware of her kinfolk status (see History below) and has no visible markings to reveal her as one (which is probably for the best since the technocrats could easily recognize it and make her life very difficult). If the memories of her past were to return, she would certainly become aware of what she is. Flaws * Nightmares 1 :Nightmares of the day her amalgam and a number of others carried out the murders of an innocent group of traditionalists, which she was too afraid to stop and simply watched as it transpired. * Severe Phobia 3 :The presence of snakes in her immediate vicinity, especially large ones, make it difficult for her to keep calm, she is afraid of them because of the run in with the snake-like paradox spirit in her past. She is not currently aware of this fear. * Driving Goal 3 :Persephone has become very aware of many aspects of the darker, horrific side of the Technocracy. Namely, it's treatment of innocent supernatural creatures. However, instead of outright rebelling, she has decided to attempt finding a way to change the organization from within and purge the corruption. = Wonder = ; Debris :A prototype firearm with the shape of a larger heavy revolver, made by the Void Engineers to function as a ranged and melee type weapon at the same time. The weapon was designed with a bladed edge melded along the top and bottom of it, the bottom terminating at the trigger while the top continues down the entire length of it. This allows it to effectively be used as a short sword. The weapon's unique design makes it difficult for anyone not specifically experienced in using it to actually wield it proficiently. *This weapon may be used as a Unique Focus. *Being a powerful magical item, this weapon is highly resistant to damage by even supernatural means of attack. *Bullets put into the chamber of this gun are magically altered into explosive ammunition with enough force to damage solid steel on impact. *Difficulty: 6, Ranged Damage: 7 (Aggravated), Range: 35, Rate: 2, Clip: 6, Melee Damage: Strength + 1/A, Conceal: Coats *Some engineers say that, without a particular maintenance, their devices seem to get 'temperamental'. This gun is no different and needs to be field stripped and cleaned every month to be fully operational. = Freebies = Freebie Points Spent: :Attributes/Advantages: +1 Manipulation (5), +1 Charisma (5), +2 Enlightenment (Arete) (8), +1 Willpower (1) = 19 :Talents: +2 Brawl (4), +1 Athletics (2), +1 Insight (2), +1 Integrity (2), +1 Resistance (2), +1 Subterfuge (2) = 14 :Skills: +1 Marksmanship (2), +1 Melee (2) = 4 :Knowledges: +1 Computer (2), +1 Lore (2), +1 Cosmology (2), +1 Investigation (2), = 8 :Backgrounds: +2 Wonder (2) = 2 :Merits and Flaws: Supernatural Kinfolk (4), Computer Aptitude (1), Nightmares (+1), Severe Phobia (+3), Driving Goal (+3) = +2 :Total = 45 = History = In her otherwise too dull life, Cassandra Davies was always looking for some way to entertain herself. She eventually became curious of secrets, things that weren't for her ears. It was her hobby to pry into other people's business. She wasn't the kind of person who spread these secrets around or gossiped about them though. She collected secrets, once she found them out she would hoard them for herself. The thrill was in finding things out and then being satisfied with the fact that she knew something she wasn't supposed to. Secrets were hard to come by though, not that she didn't try. Newspaper clippings of strange events, televisions shows about unsolved mysteries and murders, gossip (naturally), urban legends and secret conspiracies. She liked the chase just as much as the catch. A career placement test would probably recommend she be a reporter. Her small group of friends were the same type as she was and encouraged this behavior, introducing the teenager to hacking. Where better to get information than the center of it all? To her it was the greatest tool for satisfying her urge to learn. It was easy for her to become addicted to it. Out of all of her hacker friends on the internet, Cassandra became close with only one of them. Morgue. She often pointed the young girl in the direction of interesting information and made sure Cassandra was constantly improving by nudging her toward more challenging tasks. Cassandra was always curious as to how exactly her friend knew all these things and seemed to know them before most of the other hackers too. Eventually her curiosity got the better of her and she actually tried to hack into Morgue's computer to find out more about the hacker. Needless to say, this failed rather miserably. Morgue was more amused than angered at the attempt and eventually asked to meet. Morgan Graham was her real name. Morgan invited her to try a new model of the virtual reality system that had apparently just come out for PCs. Cassandra did not need to be asked twice and quickly threw the gear on. She found the electrodes attached to them strange at first but Morgan put her at ease by assuring her they were just a part of the new model. Morgan pulled her past the mundane VR simulation and inserted her straight into the Digital Web. Logging into the Digital Web for the first time, really connecting with it on a level beyond most people, was an overwhelming experience to the young woman. Each sensation transferred directly to her brain, rushing into her at a constant rate. As if she was under the water for a very long time and just coming for air, information flooded her thoughts and opened her mind. She had a new understanding of the world around her. Things were different. She had become Enlightened. "The truth is not for everyone, but now that have opened the door you cannot go back. Nothing will change that." -- Morgan took Cassandra as her student and began to show her the real truth behind things. The truths that have been hidden from the majority of humanity, or rather The Masses, for years. The creatures people read about in countless fantasy books, watched on TV, or made up in legends were more real than they knew. Needless to say, the things Cassandra was told were hard for her to accept. It was as if she was apart of an entirely different world. A terrifying one. Morgan explained that each one of these 'Reality Deviants' was dangerous in their own way. The Masses needed to be protected from them, that was their job. But more importantly, the Masses needed to be protected from the truth as well, that was also their job. The young mage was already beginning to understand why the truth needed to be hidden from people. Learning that these kinds of creatures actually roamed the world and could possibly be close enough to touch you was frightening. It would undoubtedly lead to panic and chaos if everyone learned of the reality of things. It dawned on her that she was one of the few who /could/ handle it, someone who now knew just how close to danger they were. She had a responsibility to help the people who couldn't protect themselves from it. It was with this decision that she found herself heading to the Copernicus Research Center. Cassandra, like most of the others among the numerous recruits for the Void Engineers, never imagined she would be in outer space, in the Deep Umbra. Cassandra went through live exercises with advanced weapons, fought off hostile umbral entities on a rather regular basis, and learned how to operate aircraft that seemed beyond even the most advanced space travel technology on earth. Morgan was a constant presence at the COP and heavily emphasized to her young student that it was life or death now, that she had to be constantly vigilant and ready for the various situations she would surely face. Though Cassandra took to preferring the use of firearms as time went by, especially the more technologically advanced variants, Morgan saw this dependency as a mistake. She emphasized the urgency of learning how to use the simpler close-combat weapons with more than negligible skill. She disliked how dangerously unreliable their firearms could be at times. Morgan had scars to prove just how much of a mistake it was to depend too much on one weapon, especially the experimental ones. Throughout the years of training Cassandra had always felt like she was being pushed harder than the others by her teacher, but in the end she had been truly grateful to the other woman for molding her into a stronger person. As always, everyone had to find their place in the Technocratic Union and decide just how they would lend their talents to it. After many weeks of contemplation, Cassandra finally told Morgan that she was going back to Earth. It was one of the hardest decisions she had to make, to leave her mentor behind, but she felt it was the right one. Humanity was on earth and she felt she could only help if she was down there with them. The older woman, having become fond of her protege, gave her a personal item that she had once used as a field agent as a parting gift to help her on the missions to come as a personal token of affection. The young engineer returned to earth and became a part of the Neutralization Specialist Corps. She was given the codename Persephone with the formation of the amalgam. Learning about something and really experiencing it are very different things. Nothing can quite prepare one for some of the more horrific things that the young agent was going to face. The sights were beyond horrific at times. Bloodless corpses, people torn into pieces so viciously that it became near impossible to identify them, people who could pluck flame and electricity from thin air and wield them like weapons without seemingly any sort of technological aid. Claws sharp enough to tear through car doors and creatures able to withstand a hail of bullets and laugh them off as if they were nothing. All these events made Persephone truly start to grasp just why most people just would not be able to accept this world, why they had to be sheltered from it. Every member of the amalgam had to be at their best all the time, otherwise they'd be dead real quick. She learned the names of many agents. Some died the next day, the next week or the next year. There were near misses for her as well over the years, the worst of them making her rethink her place and wondering if she should have just quit. Every one of those uncertain moments were overcome by the thought of what would happen to the people they protected on a daily basis if they weren't there. If anything, she was sure she would never just stand idly by and leave innocent people to die. -- The amalgam went on a simple inspection mission to check out a recent disturbance that was suspected to be caused by supernatural influence. Arriving on site, the scene before them was something they hardly expected. A group of traditionalists were fighting a Marauder and ripping the surroundings a part in the process. Marauders, mages that have seeped too far into madness and seemed to only seek to wreak havoc on reality. Their very presence was enough reason to get rid of them by any means necessary in the Union's opinion. The technocrats and traditionalists, in a rare occurrence, quietly agreed to fight together to stop the Marauder before too much damage could be dealt. They were all focused on the goal before them and worked together toward it with no petty squabbles, the situation was much too serious for that. The urgency of the situation made all the battle lines disappear, at least for a time. Persephone could never forget what happened that day, no matter how desperate she was to. The Marauder had been defeated, but the traditionalists were among the casualties in the report. The Marauder had nothing to do with this, they were killed after the battle had already ended. The leader of the amalgam, Peter Chance, ordered the reinforcements he had called during the fight to surround the traditionalists as soon as the dust settled. They were given options, but freedom was not one of them. The magi had done nothing wrong, they had probably saved countless people in fact. Their attempts at reasoning fell on deaf ears, Chance would accept nothing but their complete surrender. And so they had no other choice but to defend themselves. Persephone wanted to help them, she wanted to fight with them or try to stop it somehow. She couldn't though, she was too scared to move, scared that her allies might turn on her if she did. She could only watch as they were all gunned down, not one of them left alive. Chance went about things as if it was just another day on the job and told her that the reality deviants were better off dead and there was no sense in getting emotional over it. It was a bonus clean-up mission to him. Fathers, mothers, sons and daughters. The event opened Persephone's eyes, she began to see the reality deviants beyond the label. She began to see beyond the notion of 'one of them, one of us', she started to see them as people. The deaths of the traditionalists made her question everything about what she had been doing up to that point. She had never really thought about all the lives she had helped snuff out and the others she ruined over the years. She had always felt proud of herself after each mission, that she was fighting the good fight and protecting all the people that needed it. She had always actually thought of herself as a hero of the people. Questions began to assault her at every waking minute, the event rewinding in her mind over and over again. How many actual 'monsters' were there among the many she had murdered? Was protecting the Masses and reality just a convenient shield to hide behind while they wiped out who they chose? Was her job to kill monsters or to kill anyone the Union aimed her at? Persephone felt confused and very aware at the same time. She wanted to know more and began to seek out how much was being hidden from her. As she thought, more corruption began to reveal itself as she started digging up knowledge about the Union's workings. Some information came from other agents, some she had to research on her own. There were many rumors and outright lies but eventually she would start discovering the more truthful stories. Disgruntled agents who became too verbal about their issues with the Union would go into Room 101 and then come back with nothing but positive things to say and a much more compliant attitude. Other agents simply disappeared on missions they went on, never to be seen or heard from again. Horrifying experiments were said to be carried out on the reality deviants that had been captured. It all reached farther and farther, and every bit of information made her grow a little more distant from the people she had worked with for so long. The truth of the matter seemed to be that while certain members of the Technocracy looked to an ideal world of unity.. others simply wanted to crush all who deviated from their ideal of utopia underfoot. It did not matter if there were innocent people among the designated 'opposition'. She knew that signs of disloyalty would not go unpunished by the numerous zealots though, and she concealed her deep-seated disgust behind a mask of compliance and civility. Only once did a member of the amalgam actually get a glimpse of the person behind the mask. -- Peter Chance lay in pool of his own blood, a hulking creature stalking toward him. The werewolf was blinded by it's rage, a frenzy brought on by the commander's vicious attack. However, Chance's eyes were not focused on the wolf, but a figure standing in the alleyway, the shocked expression on his face easy to read. Persephone told him everything he needed to hear. She was the perfect partner to him, a strictly obedient one. "I've got your back, sir," She told him as they set off together to apprehend an identified reality deviant. It was supposed to be a quick and easy job, Chance was not at the top his form and felt there was no need to bring the other members of the team that were out on assignment. "I'll be right behind you," She told him as kicked the door in and rushed into the deviant's home, scaring the man's wife and children as he barged inside with his weapon held high. The target took off through the house and ran out the back door, knocking the agent waiting just outside to the ground as he tore down the alleyway. Chance raced past without even giving a second glance to the fallen Persephone, too caught up in the chase to care if she was hurt or not. Persephone kept her word, at least part of it, she was right behind him as he ran the target down. She watched as the target, completetely cornered, transformed into his more terrifying form and swiftly cut Chance down. Persephone looked straight back at her fallen commander as he stared at her before retreating into the dark alleyway and disappearing down it. His screams did not bother her for too long, they were silenced quickly enough after all. She made sure to give herself some convincing cuts and bruises before going back to report the loss of the reality deviant and her commander's unfortunate death. Sometimes missions did fail and casualties were unavoidable. -- Dealing with one corrupt agent was far from enough, it wasn't even a start. The Technocratic Union was a largely influential and powerful faction, Persephone saw no benefit in attempting to oppose it directly. She had already made up her mind, she would remain within it and work from the inside until she could find a way to change it for the better and rid it of all the corruption in the ranks. By any means necessary. There was no telling when the time for this to come to fruition would be, if ever. It made no difference to her, she could think of nothing else but her objective. Before being able to rally any possible support at her current base she was assigned to a new location due Chance's death, a place that had apparently become very active as of late. Crystal Springs. It hardly mattered where they put her and the lies they told her to carry out the missions. It was time to start taking control, she would no longer be their ignorant puppet. ... The Virtual Adept watched as the Marauder, the woman that had once been her mentor, faded away, shunted from the material world by reality. The battle had left the chantry in ruins around them, the young mage left alone in the middle of it. Her cabal was dead and her mentor was gone, but she tried to take comfort in the fact that it was over and the stroke of luck had saved her life. She could not help feeling guilty as well though, because she had hid during much of the battle, too afraid to fight back as the members of the cabal were wiped out one by one. It was already too late for her to make any difference when she had finally tried to fight back. However, it was not over just because her mentor was gone. Reality would make it's presence known one more time. While perhaps her intentions were good for using it, the young mage had been far too vulgar with her magick in the battle and would suffer the consequences. A paradox spirit shaped like a large pitch-black snake manifested before her and tightly coiled around her body. She screamed as a rip in reality itself suddenly opened up and the spirit hurled her into the hellish Paradox Realm. Report 1076EKN1: "Female. In the age range of late teens and early twenties. Previous records identify her as a traditionalist. The amalgam I had been supervising reported that the subject seemed to just appear out of thin air, the anomaly that brought her to that location is still being investigated. It may have had something to do with the paradox effect. Wherever the subject came from, she seems to have had a severe mental breakdown and is nearly unintelligible. Luckily she was easily subdued and the recovery team was able to collect her without having to resort to too much force. Psych Ops is examining the subject now, though I am skeptical of the chances we have dealing with damage this extensive." Report 1092EKN2: "The treatment process has succeeded. We have cured the subject's psychosis and are currently putting her through social conditioning. All the memories of her unsavory affiliations will be suppressed and the constructed memories of the last ten years should be overwrite them. The last of her records should be have been taken care of by now and all searches for her will be silenced when and if they become apparent. I shall continue to monitor her progress. The subject will be a loyal recruit to the Technocratic Union." - Lead Void Engineer Psychiatrist, Morgan Graham Misc Mundane Possessions: Persephone owns a Jericho 941 "Baby Eagle" pistol and usually carries it with her for self-defense. Category:Character Archive